Wall construction



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C. O. WALPER WALL CONSTRUCTION July l@ Juy l0, i923.

C. O. WALPER WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed July 24. 1922 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 ly wmmwn v guna/Moz;

Patented July im, i923..

' narran 'stares masa@ maaar forages.

cuan-Y oaawanrnmo'r nnraorr, MICHIGAN, Assienon or `onu-'mma 'ro naaien a. mesma .en'nonnrman To Buurman n. CLARK, Born or Dnraorr, manteau.

WALL CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed Julyae,

To all whom tmc-y concern:

Beit known that I, CURRY ORA WALPER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of `Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wall Constructions, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings; lo

of walls for buildings. A

It has for its primary object the provision of a system of construction by which a satisfactory rigid and permanent surface may l5 be formed upon ordinary wooden studding kor upon metallic supports without using the ordinary wooden or metallic lath. A further object of my vinvention is the provision. of a system of constructing Va finishing surface coating' for use directly upon any of the various typesp'of wall boards to obviate the necessity of the use of the ordinary rough coat.

A still further object of the invention 1s the provision of a method of reinforcing a surface-coatingacross the joint-at the unsupported .meeting 'edges yof 'wally board panels to prevent the formation ofcrackseither during-the drying of the surface .coat- 0 ing or under the influence of subsequent distortion of the wall surface.

The increasing 5 cost of wooden lathing v together with the other disadvantages of the ordinary method of constructing a plastered 5 wall has led to many attempts to use other forms of material for the wall surface. It

has lbeen proposed-to use wall boards consisting of a single sheet of pulp or formed' of a plurality of laminations of paper seo Y cured together by various adhesives, but such boards commonly Warp, shrink and expand under various conditions of humidity and it has beeny found difficult to conceal the joints where thevarious panels abut.l The manu- 5 facturers, of such boards Atherefore com-y monly recommend the use of panelling strips to conceal the joints at the meeting edges of the boards. There arel however many walls in which it is undesirable to usev D such panelling strips and there have-been placed upon -the market a number of -composition boards' usually having a plastic compositionfofv gypsum with somel other lingredient such as sawdust or fiber with a This invention relates to the construction This finishing ting relation.

1922. Serial No. 576,968.

surface protecting layer of nthin p'astleboard.`

work To avoid this cracking at the joints where `plaster boards are used ithas been customary to use. a rigid rough coat consisting ofg'ypsum and sand, the rough coat being substantially *as thick as the plaster' board and uponthis rough coat the ordinary finishing coat or putty coatis applied.

1gypsum, the lime usually comprising eightyve per cent or more/f the mixture. With wall boards less rigid than the thick plaster boards it isimpractical toy use l.even

this method. of applying a rough coat: -followed by a finishing-coat, the adhesion'ofthe rough-coating'being slight and the p ulp or aperwall boards usually being too much in uenced by the action of moisturev to form a satisfactory lbacking.

The present invention solves the problem of producing a satisfactoryV wall surface upon a plaster .board backing by the conjoint use" of a composition having the quality of great elasticity and the additional quality of adhering very firmly to a paper or other porous surface with a reinforcement preferably -consisting of a metallic fabric across lthe joints where the plaster boards lie in abut- In assembling wall boards upon their supports it is customary to leave a little space between the boards. It is not practicable to assemble boards to forman absolutely perfect joint since in the manu# facture of the boards the an les will vary' from a true right angle and w ere the edges have been-struck or otherwise damaged during shipment or handling, the edges willnot form a straight line. `The expression in .abutting-relation, is therefore intended to mean a relationship of two boards such' that they lie 1n substantiallythe same plane with their edges in close proximity eve'n though' -coat consists ofwlime and l 4the joint may be irregular and though the boards may not lie in' actual contact with each other.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a horizontal section through a wall showing one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

Fig. 3- is a. horizontal sec-tion on the line III-HI of Fig. 2 but on a larger scale;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line IV--IV of Fig'. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on the same line, the parts being shown as distorted by pressure;

Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are vertical sections similar to that of Fig. 4, showing other forms of wall boards.

In Figs. 1 and 3 are shown sections of an ordinary 'outside wall construction in which wooden studs 1 have an outer sheathin 2 of Wood which may consist of the or inary clap-board or ldrop-side commonly vused in wooden buildings. Upon the opposite end of the studs 1 from the wooden members 2 are nailed plaster boards- 3 by means of nails 4 driven through the edges of the boards as they lie in abutting relation upon the end of the stud. As best shown in Fig. 3, the plaster boards consist lof a filler 5 of a gypsum composition, the board being covered with a layer of paper 6 which extends around the vertical ledges of the boards as indicated at 7.

As indicated in Fig. 2, the plasterboards arel made in'panels approximately thirtytwo inches in width', this being twice the stan-dard distance from center to center of adjacent studs in wooden buildings. The best results are secured by staggering the joints upon alternate studs so that the vertical joints of adjacent boards shall not 11e in the same line. lAfter the boards have been nailed in place upon the studs and joists to form a complete covering forthe walls and ceiling, reinforcing strips S-are placed along eachjstud upon the'surface of the wall boards to cover the vertical joints where such exist and to form a reinforcement to. prevent cracking opposite studs where no vertical joints between the boards exists. I

vThus the necessity of cutting the strips into short lengths is obvi'ated and the strips serve as an additional reinforcement for the central portion of the panel as well as a form of lathing to which the surface coating will adhere firmly. These reinforcing strips may be secured in place by tacks or smally nails 9 before the plasterer arrives on the job-or the plasterer may apply some of the material of the finishing coat or a.

similar puttying compositionalong the joints to partially fill in the crack and the strips may thenbe laid along the joints and pressed into this composition which will b adhesive enough to hold the wire strips in p ace.

As shown in Fig. 2, horizontal reinforcing strips 10, which may be the same in every respect as the strips 9, are used to cover the horizontal joints.

The preferred composition for a finishing coat consists of a mixture of gypsum from sixty per cent to seventy-five per cent; lime from twenty per cent to thirty per cent and for certain locations an additional filling or hardening material such as sand or fine asbestos which may be used up to about ten per cent of the total mixture. A composition'having this high percentage of gypsum willv cling very tenaciously to a paper or other porous surface, and while it is somewhat brittle-it has great elasticity, permitting considerable bending without cracking. The mixture is prepared with a sufficient quantity of water so that lit may be flowedsmoothly upon the surface as in the application of the ordinary putty coat, a sufficient amount of commercial retarder being used to prevent the rapid setting of the composition. For best resultsthe aper surface covering the plaster board s ould be sufficiently porous to absorb a considerable amount of water present, but should not have enough suction to dry out the plastic mixture to an 'extent preventing proper setting and hardening of the composition.

Plaster of Paris is a mixture of anhydrous, dihydrate, and hemihydrate, sulphate of calcium. In'setting, this requires a suf fic-ient amount of water to enable a recrystallization to occur, the plaster becoming converted into a mass of interlacing crystals of the dihydrate. This process of hydration is much more rapid and produces a different resulting product than the hardening which occurs when lime is used as a plaster. In the latter case it appears as ifl a colloidal `calcium hydroxide is formed when lime is wetted, and this on drying sets by a process analogous with the drying of glue. The formation of calcium carbonate by the absorption of carbondioxide from the atmosphere loccurs ata late stage in the setting. For the proper hardening of the lime mixture a certain quantity of moisture is necessary to facilitate the rapid absorption of carbondioxide and to prevent undue shrinkage of the surface during setting. This moisture is usually supplied by the giving up of water absorbed by the rough'4 coat to whichlthe finishing coat is usually applied. In the case of plaster boards having. a paper surface. there is not enough moisture absorbed and retained to cause'a proper setting of the lime and it is therefore impossible to use the ordina-ry finishing or putty77 coat consisting of a very' large perlas y .naartoe of pister of Faris, upon paper coated wall boards.. By thel use of the mixture containing a high percentage kof gypsum a. coatngv having very ii-Herent qualities is obtained. 'This coating adheres to the paper surface sets rapidly, requires only such moisture for its setting as may be obtained from the moistened paper covered wall board and by the end of aboutv twenty-four hours formed an elastic and resilient surface containing lso little vexcess moisture that the wooden trim about doors, windows and the like may be applied without injury. After the ordinary finishing coat has been appliedl upon the surface of the rough coat a period of several days is usually required to permit hardening and drying out before wooden trim ma be secured in place in contact with the fnisliing surface.

As shown in Fig. 4, a4 reinforcing strip 10 extends across the space between the abut'- ting edges vof the plaster boards 3. This strip will preferably be made of a wire mesh fabric'provided with a coating of some rust preventing composition. Upon the outer paper surfaces 6 of the meeting. boards is applied a 'surface finishing coat 11 of tbe adherentl elastic plastic composition just described which clings to the paper at both sides of the strip 10 and which passes through the -meshesof the metallic fabric into contactl with the paper behind lthe fabric. A certainv amount may be-forced through theA fabric at the joint as indicated at 16 but this vis unimportant and is not relied upon to close the joint or as a reinforcing means. if' pressure isapplied upon the finished surface 11 after it has become dry it will bend outward on a curve as indicated in Fig. 5. The composition boards 3, having a rigid center, will end about the nearest studs and the boards being rigid' will tend to preserve their plane configuration. The adhesion of the surface coating 11 for the paper surface 6 is greater than the adhesion between the paper and the plastic composition core 'of the wall board. At the edge of each board adjacent to the joint if suicient 'pressure is applied the paper'will loosen from the composition core as indicated at 17 in Fi 5 but the'finishing coat 1'1 reinforced by t e metallic fabric 10 will not crack but will simply become exed. in a curve and when the pressure is removed the surface 11 will return because of its elasticity to its original position.

By this construction there is provided a wall having affinishing 'surface of a plastic material whichis resilient and which has Ca v.movementindependent of the movement of the rigid wall sections lying behind it at they unsup orted joints. -By the use of an indepen ent elastic surface coating providedI .with a reinforcement at the l oint where the greatest yielding 'of the pane s behind it can of with a very small percentage Y ishing coating upon any ordinary Wall board has j occur,v it is possible to use a single thin finwithout the formation of cracks at the meeting edges of the panels.

In Fig. 6, the reinforcing 10 andsurface coating 11 is shown applied across the joint at the abutting edges of two wall boards containing wire .reinforcements 18 and 19 rality of layers 23 of a plastic composition separated by sheets of paper 24. These are allfamiliar forms of composition boards co-pending applic-ation, Serial No.'

now uponthe market. ln general the present system of -wall construction may comprise any form of rigid composition panel having a surface to which an elastic finishing coat of plastic material will strongly adhere when used in conjunction with la-reinforcement across the joint at the meetingy edges which will form with the elastic finishing composition a surface'movable independently ofthe movement of the free edgesof thewall boards.

' ft will be evident that-many modifications'v may'be made in the various details of construction without departing from the principle of my invention or sacrificing any of its advantages. For example the finishing coat 11 may obviously be constructed of more than a single layer if desired. In some circumstances it has been 'found advantageous to apply a` coating of the composition described over as large an .area as the Workman can conveniently reach from his scaffolding, the surface being made only ,as

'smooth as is convenient with a woodenfioat and then after the ortion first applied has received its set and) while Ait is still wet a thin surface coating indicated at 25 in. Figs. 4 and 5 is applied to give the ,desired smoothlll ness offinish., This finishing coat has little or no structural value, but is primarily for the purpose of enabling the` workman to ,Work more rapidly than 4he would be able to if he attempted to give a very smooth finish to the first layer. By applying the first layer rapidly a lar e surface can be quickly 'covered'and as t el mixture sets it will havea great suction even thoufgh wetso that a very thin finishing coat pre erably with ahigher percentage of lime than of psum can be' applied to thesurface and quickly 'trowelled to 'form a very smooth surface. However this-surface coating 25 together with' the primary coating 11 forms substantialljf a.

ist

single layer and the coating `25 will not be yneeded if the Workman choses to Work somewhat more slowly in order to give the coat-l i fabric Y may obviouslyl be of any suitable metal other than iron in which case no rust proofing coating will be necessary. In cases Where there is nolikelihood of strains due to pressure as upon the upper portion of walls or on ceilings, the fabric 10 may consist of any suitable equivalent for the metal fabric such as heavy cloth or of any other fiexible material capable' of acting as a reinforcement andv providing sulicient adhesion for thematerial of the surface coating. The invention is therefore not limited to the specific details shown but is claimed in any of its forms or' modifications Within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1l A building structure comprising a pluralityv of supporting members, Wall boards secured to said members With their abutting edges having portions capable of movement, a reinforcing material extending'across the joint at the abutting edges of said panels opposite the portions capable of movement, and aisurfacecoating of an elastic plastic material covering the reinforcing material and adhering to the Wall boards on opposite sides of the reinforcement, said surface coating and wall boards being capable of relative movement adjacent to their abutting edges.

2. A buildingstructure comprising a plurality of supporting members, a plurality of Wall boards secured to said supporting members, with their ed es in abutting relai tion, a flexible reinforcing material extending across the joints ati the abutting edgesl vvvall boards nailed thereto with their edges in abutting relation, reinforcing fabric arranged opposite the joints at abutting edges of the boards,.and a finishing surface coating consisting of a single layer of an elastic plastic composition adhering to the surface of said Wall boards and to said fabric, said Wall boards and said finishing coating being capable of relative movement adjacent to the abuttin edges of said boards.

,4. A bui ding structure comprising supporting members, a plurality of composition wall boards having a paper surface secured to said supporting members with their edges in abutting relation, fiexible reinforcing fabric arranged across the joints between the 'abutting edges of said boards, and a finishing coating covering the surface of said wall boards, said coating having the qualities of strong adhesion to a paper surface and of elasticity, said finishing coating and said composition boardsbeing capable of separation when pressure is applied adjacent to the meeting edges of said boards.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

.CURRY ORA WALPER. Witnesses:

CHARLES W. STAUFFIGER, ARTHUR MINNICK. 

